The advent of lightweight portable computers and hand-held devices, the spread of wireless networks and services, and the popularity of the Internet combine to make mobile computing a key requirement for future networks. However, the heterogeneous nature of today's wireline networks (e.g., dial-up, xDSL, cable), wireless networks (e.g., GSM, CDMA, TDMA), and enterprise networks (e.g., LAN, WAN) significantly limits the scope of mobility between these heterogeneous networks.
What is needed is a mobility architecture framework by which the various types of networks and access thereto may converge into a unified homogeneous network that will carry multiple types of traffic and permit access to the network irrespective of the MN's location and the type of access media used to access the network.